Premier Gary Doer aims to introduce legislation later this fall which will set targets for reducing greenhouse gases in Manitoba and lay out penalties for industries which don't comply.
Doer discussed the legislation under questioning from the media at a provincial climate change conference at the Fort Garry Hotel. The conference brings together 250 academics, business leaders and environment experts to lay out real strategies for cutting greenhouse gases.
Doer said the legislation will target 2012 to see reductions in Manitoba's greenhouse gases and said he expects the public to hold him accountable in the next election if progress isn't seen.
"I'll be defeated" he said when asked what consequences there would be if the targets aren't met.
He also said there would be "consequences" for the private sector, who will be expected to participate in helping reduce Manitoba's greenhouse gas emissions.
Doer would not give any details of the legislation including whether it will match or exceed the British Columbia bill which requires a 33 per cent cut in emissions by 2020.
B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who attended today's conference, has also committed to making the B.C. government carbon neutral by 2012, which means it will buy offsets for whatever emissions government business creates. B.C. has also cracked down on government travel and is promoting the use of video conferencing instead.
Campbell said there isn't unanimous political agreement on climate change in Canada, but he said premiers can't wait for everyone else to board the bus before putting it into gear.
"Climate change isn't something that might happen," he said. "It is happening."
Doer has previously committed Manitoba to meeting the Kyoto Protocol target of a cut in emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012, which would mean a cut of 3.5 megatonnes of greenhouse gases.
In 2005, Manitoba emitted an estimated 20.30 megatonnes of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. It's an increase of more than 12 per cent since 1990.
Doer and Campbell also signed an agreement this morning to work together on a number of initiatives including climate change. Among the targets in the agreement is to adopt a vehicle emission standard to match that of California by 2010 or sooner and legislating the capture of methane gas from landfills within the next 12 months.
Dr. Steve Howard, CEO of the international think tank The Climate Group, told conference attendees this morning global emissions have to start going down by 2015 if we are going to have a chance to slow climate change.
"This is a real challenge," he said.
Howard said estimates have shown it will cost the equivalent of about one per cent of the global gross domestic product to address climate change.
He said the cost of not doing anything will be between five and 20 per cent, which is essentially the same effect as the Great Depression.
Howard said the main impacts will come from energy efficiency initiatives, low-carbon power sources such as solar, wind or hydroelectricity, and cutting transportation emissions with more efficient cars and actually driving less.
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, who delivered the keynote address at the conference this morning, said her state has estimated addressing climate change won't be a cost, but actually could input $5.5 billion to the Arizona economy through the development and sale of new technologies.
She said she hopes people leave the conference with a sense of urgency about the need to actually do something.
"We have a very narrow opportunity here," she said. "If we don't exercise political will and convert this challenge into an opportunity we will not be handing off to the next generation the environment that we wish."
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